1. Jupiter
Astronomy 311
Professor Lee Carkner
Lecture 17

2. Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is best described as,
An impact feature
An eruption of water ice
A hurricane-like storm
A large cloud that absorbs red light
The shadow of the moon Io

3. Which best describes the surface of the typical gas giant moon?
Rocky
Covered with volcanoes
Enveloped by a thick atmosphere
Smooth with few craters
Icy

4. Jupiter -- King of the Gods
Jupiter is also “King of the Planets” due to its size

5. Viewing Jupiter from Earth
Is very bright from Earth
In opposition every 13 months
Can clearly see cloud patterns, Great Red Spot and 4 largest moons even with small telescope

6. Jupiter Facts Size: Orbit:
Description: large, gaseous, many large satellites

7. Viewing Jupiter from Space
Much information comes from Voyager 1 and 2 (reached Jupiter in 1979)
HST can make long term observations
Unlike Voyager, it observed for a long time (8 years)

8. Galileo’s Atmosphere Probe

9. Galileo Atmosphere Probe
Launched from the Galileo spacecraft on Dec 7, 1995
Lasted for 1 hour and got down to 130 km below the tops of the clouds before the high temperature and pressure killed the electronics

10. Shoemaker-Levy 9 Discovered in 1993
Swung back around and hit Jupiter in 1994
Spectra of impacts reveals composition of deeper layers of atmosphere

11. Jupiter’s Atmosphere The belts are produced by convection
The interior of Jupiter is hotter than the exterior
Jupiter’s rotation shapes the regions of rising and falling material into belts and zones

12. Belts in Jupiter’s Atmosphere

13. Jupiter’s Rotation Jupiter has a rotation period of about 10 hours
Jupiter also has differential rotation
this is because Jupiter is not a solid body

14. Structure of Jupiter’s Atmosphere
Infrared, radio and Galileo probe observations reveal 3 cloud layers
Ammonium hydrosulfide (NH4SH)
The color of the layers depends on depth
White -- middle layer
Not all layers are found in all regions

15. Structure of Jupiter’s Atmosphere

16. Spots and Ovals They are rapidly rotating cloud features (storms)
Some are very long lived
Some spots are white or brown
Brown ovals may be holes to the deeper, hotter, inner atmosphere

17. Interlude Gravity
Every object in the solar system pulls on every other due to gravity
This can cause perturbations in orbits
We can calculate the effects of gravity using Newton’s equation F=GMm/D2
We can use a modified version of this equation which shows the relative force a planet exerts: F=M/D2

18. Jupiter’s Interior
Small core of rock and ice (about the size of the Earth)
Liquid metallic hydrogen outer core (40-50,000 km thick)
Hydrogen gas layer 10-20,000 km thick

19. The Interior of Jupiter

20. Rings Jupiter’s rings were discovered by Voyager
May be formed from material chipped off of 4 small inner moons by impacts

21. Diagram of Jupiter’s Rings and Inner Moons

22. Jupiter’s Moons Jupiter has a planetary system of its own
Jupiter has 4 of the 7 large moons of the solar system

23. Jupiter’s Magnetosphere

24. Jupiter’s Magnetosphere
The magnetic field forms a magnetosphere about 200 times larger than Jupiter itself
The magnetosphere deflects the solar wind to form a shock wave
Also contains:
a hot, thin, rapidly changing plasma
rapidly moving changed particles

25. Next Time
Chapter

26. Summary Jupiter is the largest planet
Its strong gravity influence the motions of the rest of the solar system
Rotates rapidly and differentially
Explored by Voyager, HST, Galileo, and a comet impact

27. Summary: Atmosphere
Explored by telescopes, Galileo probe and comet impact
Clouds are composed of ammonia and sulfur compounds
Clouds form bands of material moving in opposite directions
Spots and ovals are storms which can occur at different altitudes and can be long lived
Heat from Jupiter’s interior and rotation drives motions

28. Summary: Jupiter From the Outside In
Satellites: out to ~24 million km
Magnetosphere: out to ~15 million km
Rings: out to ~200,000 km
Atmosphere: out to ~70,000 km
Liquid metallic hydrogen: out to ~50,000 km
Rock/Ice core: out to ~20,000 km